Crafting Copilot's AI with Stephanie Blucker of Microsoft | Episode 8

Stephanie Blucker, senior content design manager at Microsoft, shares insights into her team's work on AI integrations across a broad range of Microsoft products, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Loop, Planner, & the M365 app.

She explains the evolution of content design from UX writing to a more integrated role in the design process, emphasizing the importance of content designers in creating intuitive and user-friendly technology products. Stephanie also discusses the introduction of CoPilot, an AI capability integrated into Microsoft products, designed to enhance productivity and creativity. She highlights the shift towards deterministic computing, where users have more control over their interactions with technology, shaping the output through prompts.

Stephanie's journey from a marketing manager to a key player in AI at Microsoft illustrates the value of diverse backgrounds in technology and the importance of passion and curiosity in career development.

Takeaways:
Content design is now user-centric, collaborating with designers and PMs.
CoPilot boosts productivity in Microsoft products. AI's future will focus on multifunctional tools.
Transitioning to AI/tech careers requires passion, networking, and continuous learning.
Content designers are key in early design stages.
Data science aids decisions but faces challenges. Ethical considerations include privacy, bias, and transparency.
The future holds advancements in AI and automation.

Stephanie Blucker Quotes:
💡 "My team works on AI integrations in a lot of different products at Microsoft... that's the short list."
🎨 "Content design... it's this very user-centric way of thinking about interaction flows."
🚀 "One of the more interesting things that my team is working on right now is called CoPilot."
🤖 "It's all about your creativity... what you're telling the system to do is ultimately what you're going to get."
🌍 "No pivot is unachievable... I went from a marketing manager at a nonprofit to a writer at Microsoft for Cortana."

In this episode, we talk about:
04:10 Content Design & AI Integrations
06:14 CoPilot: AI Integration in Microsoft Products
07:54 Transition from Clippy to CoPilot, enhancing user support
09:21 CoPilot's unique approach to AI integration
11:43 Developing features & planning product roadmaps
12:37 Customer satisfaction as a key success metric
14:12 Navigating the complexities of introducing AI features
15:41 The Future of AI Integration
19:37 Role of Content Design
21:06 Career Path to Sr. Content Design Manager
23:29 Advice for Career Transitions & Conversational Design
29:09 The Future of Data Science

Resources:
Master of Science in Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) at the University of Washington: https://www.hcde.washington.edu/ms

About Stephanie:
Stephanie Blucker is a senior content design manager who’s worked for Microsoft for nearly 7 years. She leads the M365-OPG Copilot & Apps content design team, which handles UX content for Copilot/AI integrations, web, and mobile apps for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Loop, Planner, and M365. Previously, she was the lead content designer for Word, PowerPoint, and the Accessibility UX in Windows settings; led the refresh of the Inclusive Language feature in Microsoft Editor; drove a team in establishing guidelines for managing sensitive topics in conversational interfaces; developed bot personalities for Project Personality Chat; and wrote for Cortana. Before Microsoft, she worked in the nonprofit field for 10+ years. She has a Bachelor of Journalism and a Master of Science in Human-Centered Design & Engineering.

Connect with Stephanie on LinkedIn:   / stephanieblucker  
Microsoft CoPilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com/

About Joan:
Ranked the #4 in Voice AI Influencer, Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek is the CEO of Clarity AI, Founder of Women in Voice (501c3 with 20+ chapters), & Host of Your AI Roadmap. With a decade in software & AI, she has worked at Nuance, VERSA Agency, & OneReach.ai in data & analysis, product, & digital transformation. She's also an investor & technical advisor to startup (AI, computer vision, NLP) & enterprise (medical hardware). A CES & VentureBeat speaker & Harvard Business Review published author, she has a PhD & MA & is based in Seattle.

Connect with Joan on LinkedIn:   / dr-jpb  
Subscribe to the Podcast: https://yourairoadmap.buzzsprout.com/...
Want Clarity to build your AI tools?: https://calendly.com/hireclarityai/co...
IG:   / yourairoadmap  
Joan has a BOOK with Wiley coming! AI, Careers, & Future-Proofing Your Income: https://yourairoadmap.com/book-waitlist/

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